Tertullian, Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 3

I do not think it is even debatable whether God is right to forbid His name and honor from being attached to a lie, whether He is right to refuse those He has torn from the error of superstition permission to return to Egypt, or whether He is right to refuse those He has chosen for Himself permission to depart from Him. (Exodus 32:1-6) Consequently, He will not wait for us to re-examine whether He intended to enforce the discipline He chose to establish, and whether He justly punishes the abandonment of that discipline which He intended to be kept. He would have established it in vain if He did not want it kept, and He would have wanted it kept in vain if He did not intend to punish its violation. It follows, then, that I must prove these definitions of God against superstitions—both those already refuted and those already punished—because the entire rationale for martyrdom rests on them.

Moses was absent with God on the mountain when the people, unable to endure his necessary absence, demanded gods for themselves—gods they had already lost. Aaron was pressed into compliance and ordered the women's earrings thrown into the fire. They were about to forfeit in judgment the true ornaments of their ears: the very voices of God. A shrewd fire cast a calf's image for them, branding those who had hearts set on Egypt, where even a cow was consecrated among the other animals. As a result, three thousand men were slain by their own kin, because they had offended their nearest parent, God, thereby consecrating the origin and the penalty of their transgression. (Exodus 32:1-6)

In Numbers, when Israel encamped at Shittim, the men went whoring after the daughters of Moab, who invited them to their idols so that they would commit spiritual fornication as well. They ate the sacrifices of those polluted rites, then bowed down to the gods of the nation and were initiated into Baal-peor. On account of this idolatry, fornication's sister, twenty-three thousand Israelites fell by the swords of divine wrath. (Numbers 25:1-9)

After Joshua died, they abandoned the God of their fathers and served the idols Baal and Ashtoreth. The Lord burned with anger, handed them over to plunderers, and they were plundered and sold to enemies against whom they could no longer stand. Wherever they marched, the Lord's hand was against them for disaster, and they were severely crushed. (Judges 2:10-15) After this, God raised up Judges—whom we understand as censors—over them, but they would not obey even these. Whenever a Judge died, they reverted to corruption worse than their fathers, chasing after foreign gods, serving and worshiping them. So the Lord grew angry and declared: 'Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not obeyed My voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.' (Judges 2:10-15) Thus, throughout nearly all the annals of the Judges and the subsequent kings, with the strength of the surrounding nations held in reserve, He meted out His wrath to Israel through war, captivity, and the yoke of foreigners, every time they strayed far into idolatry.